During subterranean drilling and completion operations, a pipe or other conduit is lowered into a borehole in an earth formation during or after drilling operations. Such pipes are generally configured as multiple pipe segments to form a “string”, such as a drill string or production string. As the string is lowered into the borehole, additional pipe segments are coupled to the string by various coupling mechanisms, such as threaded couplings.
Various power and/or communication signals may be transmitted through the pipe segments via a “wired pipe” configuration. Such configurations include electrical, optical or other conductors extending along the length of selected pipe segments. The conductors are operably connected between pipe segments by a variety of coupling configurations.
One such coupling configuration includes a threaded male-female configuration often referred to as a pin box connection. The pin box connection includes a male member, i.e., a “pin” that includes an exterior threaded portion, and a female member, i.e., a “box”, that includes an interior threaded portion and is configured to receive the pin in a threaded connection.
Some wired pipe configurations include a transmission device mounted on the tip of the pin. However, such transmission devices can be easily damaged because of the exposed mounting location, such as when the pipe segment is racked back onto a derrick. Devices such as thread protectors may help to some degree, but are time consuming to use and add additional complexity and expense.